Walt Disney wanted Sleeping Beauty to be “a moving illustration.” He meant that literally. He instructed his animators to treat the film not like a traditional cartoon. The result was an aesthetic departure that set Sleeping Beauty apart from anything Disney had done before or since.

What do Theodor de Bry’s map of the Caribbean, the Lindau Gospels, a Moche ear ornament, and Titian’s Venus of Urbino have in common? All find new life in the dimly lit, glittering caverns of the Pirates of the Caribbean at Disneyland, where global medieval and early modern objects have been reimagined and recontextualized for 20th- and 21st-century edutainment. This talk explores how the attraction’s visual culture pirates the past to create an immersive fantasy of the Golde

From medieval manuscripts and unicorns to renaissance landscape paintings and modern design, Disney’s Sleeping Beauty is filled with nods to real art that inspired its unique look. Did you know you can see many of these artworks in person in New York City museums like The Metropolitan Museum of Art, The Morgan, and The Cloisters?

By the 1500s, in parts of Europe, the bob was all the rage for men—Shrek's Lord Farquaad and Snow White connect to it!

Blog post exploring the influence of art history, specifically Rodin, on the Beast’s hands Disney's Beauty and the Beast

Disney's Frozen has many nods to art history, including a cheeky reference to the risqué painting The Swing by Fragonard

During the Middle Ages, heart-shaped books were deeply tied to ideas about love, memory, and the soul.

Disney’s villainous Evil Queen in Snow White is based on a famous medieval sculpture of Uta von Ballenstedt

Mickey and Minnie's Runaway Railway reminds me of everyone’s favorite Post-impressionist Dutch artist Vincent van Gogh

Did you know Ariel in The Little Mermaid is influenced by Victorian art?